A community for parents to ask questions regarding their child's IEP program and discuss options with other parents on how to get through the process. We are also all here to support each other when we all go through the challenges and miscommunications that can definitely occur when going through the IEP/Special Education process. Our children are a gift and should be treated that way.

IEP

Hello,
my son who is 8 years old is going into IEP. Since kindergarten he has been behind, he is now in 3rd grade.
He does very well in his spelling and math. However he is not doing well in read comprehension and social skills,motor skills..
We have been working with him however we are not teachers. We have been hoping it would get better but it hasnt and he is struggling . We didnt want him to be labled as far as special education. The school never really was clear on they keep it discreet and many children are getting pulled out for different reasons.
I feel scared and overwhelmed. We really want him to succeed.

When he was a 6 weeks earlie when he was born, when he was in the incubator. we came to see him. the incubator was overheating him. We were new parents at the time and we were so upset we never had them fill out a hospital report. I keep telling myself is this why he is having learning disabilities?

The school is not doing this as a punishment. They are doing it to help him. If he qualifies for the help, an early intervention is extremely important. Listen to what they have to say with an open mind. You will always have a choice of him being in the program or not.
Being labeled as being in special eduction does not carry the stigma it once did. Furthermore, there are many laws now which protect the child. It costs a school district money for any child in a special ed. program. They don't do it without reason. And there are pretty tight controls over how a child even qualifies. If he qualifies, he most probably needs the help. Hope this helps.

Hello, My son has been targeted too since Jk. He finally received his IEP in grade 2 and had trouble with fine skills, math, reading comprehension and speech. I accepted the IEP and then later heard all these bad stigmas that came along with an IEP. Yikes, I thought I made the biggest mistake regarding my child's life.

My son is in grade 6 now and is breaking out of the IEP shell. He still has the IEP but the teachers claim he doesn't really need it anymore but they can't remove it without my authorization. All they can do is alter his needs, which works. My son benefits from his IEP, he learned to take more time when he needs and he learned to succeed with confidence. Children often struggle because they don't know how to ask for help or they are afraid to ask for help. Children don't like to 'feel' different and believe me more kids have an IEP than children who don't have an IEP. Use the IEP and work with your child and the teacher even if he/she is challenging at times; keep in mind teachers have 27+ students and half of those children struggle with learning/behaviour disabilities.... eventually your child will learn to cope with his difficulties and excess using his strengths.

I am a Special Education teacher in Florida. I to have learning disabilities, but overcame them. Here are a few things you should know:

Be sure they have him in a regular education class for the subjects he doesn't need help in. They should not pull him out at this time, unless there is no other option.

At the beginning of middle school, be sure he is on a standard dipolma track. Public schools will often say, oh we will change it later. The problem with that is it is harder to do, then the students just get a paper stating they went to high school, not graduated.

The school cannot tell the other students why your child is being pulled out. If they do, get a lawyer. (my opinion) All of his teachers do need to know his accomodations.

Things you can do:
1. Go to this site: Raz-kids.com
It is a little expensive for a year, however, it will help with comprehension at home
2. With social skills
There is a site called edhelper.com. They have social stories that can help with social skills of you act them out. Again, this costs about $50/year.

I am pretty sure the hospital isn't to blame for his learning disabilities. Mine came from my father's side of the family (dyslexia and ADHD). Also, there is a corrilation between preemies and learning disabilities. The sooner they get help, the better.

Hi, my daughter has Raz-Kids and she loves it. What about the edhelper.com, Is there any way I can see samples or what the site is about before i purchase the licence for the year? My kids are behind in reading and I already buy books for reading comprehension, but I am a knowledge junkie and I can't express to you how important it is to me that my kid can have these tools for their education and social life.

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